Banks ready to offer subsidized loans to economy sector - Meeting held between PM Vucic and bankers

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic stated Monday that the economy sector cannot be healthy without a strong support of the banking sector. Vucic said that at a meeting with the representatives of 29 banks at the Palace of Serbia, adding that nothing was more important than the exchange of ideas.

Vucic explained that the aim was to see in which way the state can help the banking sector and get the banks to deem Serbia's economy, the private sector in particular, a condition to making both progress and profit.

The prime minister reiterated that banks would get EUR 60 million from the state in order to grant EUR 1.2 billion worth of subsidized loans to the economy sector.

He stressed that he would be happy if only ten percent of that money was spent on the refinancing of existing loans.

Banks in Serbia are ready to approve subsidized loans to the economy sector, bankers confirmed Monday, after their meeting with PM Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade.

- Initial proposal is to set the annual interest rate on subsidized dinar loans at 5 percent - said Slavko Caric, the chairman of the Erste Bank Executive Board.

He added that his proposal was to also grant subsidized loans in EUR with an interest rate of 3 percent annually.

As he noted, one more meeting will be organized with government representatives, most likely by Friday, May 16, to talk about subsidized loans.

For more information on the meeting between Vucic and the representatives of foreign companies, please click HERE.